Return to the Kootenays: Creston Valley

Continued from my previous blog post...

Leaving Creston is simple. The Crowsnest Highway cuts right through the town centre, so you simply follow it out. But as you round the bend out of the charming downtown, you immediately get pied with a slice of strip mall hell. "A-ha! Creston has its ugly side too" I thought. But it's only fleeting. Seconds later you're following a ridge that provides the most spectacular panoramic view of this utopian-looking fertile valley and it's hard not to be moved by the sight of it.

Remember the old computer game, The Oregon Trail?  In the game, you cross the west in a horse and buggy, sacrificing oxen and losing members to Typhoid fever, all in the name of settling the valley of all fertile valleys, godlike rays shining down from above. The Creston Valley looks like that. As an aside, apparently Bountiful is somewhere down in that valley. Of course.

As I drive along I am quite taken by the vastness of this fertile, lush, agricultural valley. I drive by weathered grain elevators not unlike those of small town Alberta. Photo opportunity after photo opportunity pass, and I am struggling with myself: do I pull over, or should I just keep going?

Only a few minutes later down the highway, there's a sign for a scenic viewpoint. Perfect! Coincidentally, the car in front of me decides to do the same thing. We're the only cars here. As I stop my car a few feet behind theirs, two guys in their early 20's get out and walk up to the cliff and take pictures. I pull out my camera and I can see one of them glancing back at me. I yell out, "I decided to copy you!"

We're all snapping photos of this gorgeous valley and the two guys wander over to the lookout deck.

I eventually make my way over and ask, "Have you been here before?" "No, it's our first time." "Me too." The two of them are from Chilliwack and are just finishing up their cross-Canada road trip. They have no fixed itinerary and sometimes flip a coin at a fork in the road to determine where they go next.

We discover that we're all on our way to the Kootenay Lake ferry, although none of us know when it departs or how frequently it goes.

Soon after we all head back to our respective cars, and it begins to rain shortly after. On what was apparently one of the rainiest days ever on record in Vancouver, it finally catches up to me in the Kootenays. I find it strangely comforting and continue my drive up the highway to the Kootenay Lake Ferry.

To be continued...

Update from Island Lake Lodge outside Fernie in the wilderness

I have been driving practically non-stop since about 3pm Pacific (not including the 30 minute wait for the Kootenay Lake Ferry and the 35 minute ferry ride itself). Oh yeah, and not including my junk food binge at Creston's Dairy Queen, or the gas fill-up across the drive-thru liquor store in Cranbrook. Or the hour I lost crossing the Pacific time-Mountain time zone boundary. I forgot about that one.

It's now 11:15pm Mountain time.

Just when I thought my drive was over, I had a 10km climb up a gravel road through the dark in the forest in low-lying clouds. Very eery (in a Kubrick film kind of way... just kidding), but I am here. And I seem to be alone in this gigantic wilderness lodge outside of Fernie. It's surreal to be here because it feels so remote, and then you've got this lovely lodge all set up, key and instructions waiting for me at the front desk because the staff have all gone home for the night. I am slightly delirious from exhaustion, but the suite here is absolutely beautiful and it seems a shame to have it all to myself.

And get this, I just parked the car in the lot which is away from the lodge, and there's no light because the trees block the lodge... and I actually felt nervous having to walk 50 paces in the dark, where the only lights are the stars and the Milky Way, and the only noises are coming from the forest. I absolutely love it though. The amount of stars is staggering; I only wish I had been here for the Perseids.

This is where I am:


View Larger Map

Can't wait to see it in the morning!

Return to the Kootenays: Creston

I'm blogging from the last few hours of August 2010 in beautiful downtown Kaslo (in the Kaslo Hotel, no less) where the power in the entire town went out for 10 minutes about an hour ago. You don't know darkness until you're in a remote mountain town during a blackout.

I digress.

Last week I was whisked away to Rossland, a mountainous town in the Monashee Range, in the Kootenay region of south-eastern BC. It was embarrassingly my first time to this part of BC, despite having explored a lot of BC... or so I thought! But there I was in Rossland for a whole day, with very little time to explore beyond the Tourism Rossland office, only knowing that I liked what little I had seen, and that I absolutely must come back to the Kootenays.

I must.

And so here I am, one week later, not even, and I'm back in the Kootenays. Who knew I'd back here so soon? Not I.

Flying into Cranbrook...

My destination this time? No, not Cranbrook. Not Rossland either. Kaslo, Meadow Creek, and Fernie. I flew into Cranbrook's Canadian Rockies International Airport via Pacific Coastal Airlines, grabbed my Toyota Yaris from Budget Rental, and started my drive along the Crowsnest (Hwy 3) westbound (and across the Mountain Time/Pacific time boundary), knowing that I had a solid 4 hours of driving ahead.

Around noon I stopped in Creston, which I was flabbergasted by its quirky retro chicness and its uncanny resemblance to a much larger Osoyoos. In fact, as you drive into Creston, you pass through this agricultural community of Erickson which is essentially a strip of 1960's era fruit stands... but like, massive fruit stands... like the Bear's Fruit Stand in Keremeos. One after the other. This is my introduction to Creston. I had no idea.

Of course, I was driving the whole time so I couldn't exactly take pictures until I got out of the car and explored downtown Creston on foot.

Vancouver has London Drugs. Creston has Bahamas.

So I'm walking around Creston and snapping pictures. People are eyeing me... not suspiciously, but out of mere curiosity. Solo girls in red jackets and cameras stand out. I haven't even been in Creston for more than 5 minutes when a guy in his 20's on his bike stops and says, "Hey, I noticed you with your camera! What are you taking pictures for?" He introduces himself as Shawn, a born and raised Creston local. I introduce myself and then explain it's my first time to Creston and I'm taking pictures for fun, for my blog, and I hand him a card. Trying to analyze my situation, he asks, "So what, you've just finished school, and now you're travelling around?" and I explain I'm doing a road trip to Kaslo... for work. I ask him where a good place to eat a quick lunch is, and he points at the pub behind us, as that's where he's heading. We say goodbye and I continue on my walk.

Not really in the mood for a pub yet (and knowing that my hotel later that night has as brew pub), I find the Buffalo Trails Coffee Shop and step inside. Locals are feverishly ordering sandwiches to go, and one girl enthuses that they make the best food here.  I order what sounds good to me at the time - a chipotle chicken club sandwich with their house salad. I also order an Americano for the road. As I wait, I pop into the washroom and laugh at what I see:

I get back to my table and I overhear the girls behind the counter. "Where do I take this single Americano?" "To the girl sitting by herself." I am that person now. 

My coffee arrives, and shortly after, the food. The sandwich is great, but the salad was unexpectedly incredible... fresh feta on greens with orange slices, candied pecans, what can only be local strawberries, with a balsamic vinaigrette. And this is the house salad? Welcome to Creston. 

I sit there reading my sister's copy of "Eat Pray Love", amused that I am reading about what I am essentially doing at that very moment: travelling into the unknown, solo, dining alone, obsessing about my next meal.

As I walk back to my car, camera in hand, I pass three older locals sitting on a bench in front of a shop. I glance at them casually and the bearded man says "good morning" to me. I say "good morning!" back. A few steps beyond and I hear him say, "she must work for the newspaper."

It's 1pm and I still have a fair distance to go, so I get back into my Yaris and continue my journey.

Next: Jeremy & Tim from Chilliwack, the Kootenay Lake Ferry, and Kaslo...

Beautiful Creston Valley, indeed!

To be continued...